We are pleased to announce a call for scores for the
2024 Tera de Marez Oyens Award
The aim
This award is dedicated to stimulating recently graduated composition talent in the Netherlands and bridging the gap between education and professional practice. The reward of €2,000 enables the composer to write a new short composition for a professional ensemble, to be performed during the next Gaudeamus Festival.
Criteria
We are looking for a work (a graduation project or other composition project realized during or shortly after the conservatory studies) that distinguishes itself by quality of composition and score, originality, and feasibility and engages the audience in a story, in its commitment, or atmosphere. There are no restrictions as to musical genre; pieces with electronics or performance elements may also compete for the award.
Who can compete?
All students who completed a BA or MA program at one of the Dutch conservatories in the academic year 2021/22, 2022/23, or 2023/24 and are residents of the Netherlands can compete for the award.
How to participate ? Click here
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Soheil Shayesteh wins Tera de Marez Oyens Award 2021 with žhâ
In the award ceremony of the nomination concert during the Gaudeamus Festival, Friday 10 september, the chair of the award committee applauded the directness of the piece, the very successful integration of live performance, electronics and visuals, and the composer's ambition and urge to innovate.
žhâ, for kamancheh, electronics and visuals received an intense performance by the composer, who played the amplified kamancheh, a Persian traditional string instrument with a sound that resembles the viola, against the background of a live electronic soundscape and visuals. (coproduced with Rashin Teimouri, whose live paintings were the source material). "By the coupling of image and sound the audience is not only listening to the music but also observing the physics of the sound from an artistic point of view. The brain will try to connect what it sees to what it hears and therefore it enters to a new dimension of the sonic universe."
Soheil Shayesteh (1989) is a violinist, kamancheh player and electronic musician. He studied Industrial Engineering followed by a master's degree in "Live Electronics" at Conservatorium van Amsterdam. He explores the intersections between contemporary classical music, Persian traditional music, experimental and interactive electronics, visual arts and improvisation. He received a grant from the Amarte Foundation, to develop an electro-acoustic instrument to generate and control visuals regardless of any fixed timeline and based on the changes in the spectrum of the sound and the playing style of the player. http://www.soheilshayesteh.com/
Other nominated pieces made a big impression on the audience as well.
The very lightweight thread floats in the moving air’, Amba Klapwijk (Royal Conservatoire, The Hague)
Necrotic Birds, Nuno Lobo (Amsterdam Conservatoire)
Kobucha, Maurick Reuser (Fontys Music Academy of Music and Performing Arts, Tilburg
For a review (in Dutch): ben taffijns blog nieuwe noten
(photograph: Kubilay Mert Ural)
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Remy Alexander wins Tera de Marez Oyens Award 2018 with Drifting
The composition Drifting,, for soprano and saxophone addresses the topic of memory loss.
The text follows the thought flow of a person who loses herself as a result of her deteriorating memory. Sentences are suddenly broken off and consciousness moves between the present and memory. The jury, chaired by David de Marez Oyens, appreciated the skill in handling the text and silences, the equal treatment of the two "instruments," and the beautiful performance by soprano Rianne Wilbers and saxophonist Tom Sanderman. Remy Alexander (1991) took composition lessons with Mayke Nas, Anthony Fiumara and Martijn Padding and completed his master's degree in composition at the Fontys Conservatory in Tilburg in 2017. The prize consists of a commission worth 2000 Euro to write a short piece for a professional ensemble, to be performed in the Gaudeamus Music Week 2019. The jury also granted a special honorable mention to violinist Kees Hillhorst, who gave a virtuoso world premiere of Zacharias S. Falkenberg's Solo Violin No.1.
composities/compositions – Remy Alexander – composer
Photo: Anne Maartje Lemereis
July, 16th 2018
Five compositions nominated for the Tera de Marez Oyens Award 2018
During the Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2018 the Tera de Marez Oyens Award 2018 will be awarded. This year's award is meant to bridge the gap between "music school" and "labour market". The award is a commission (with a value of €2.000) to write a new short composition for a professional contemporary music ensemble.
The 2018 nominations were (in alphabetical order):
Boven hoge gebouwen, Celia Swart (Koninklijk Conservatorium, Den Haag)
Drifting, voor sopraan en sopraan saxofoon, van Remy Alexander (Fontys, Tilburg)
Solo Violin nr. 1, Zacharias Falkenberg (Artez, Arnhem)
Suite in a mental space, part 1 and 2, Sara Zamboni (Koninklijk Conservatorium, Den Haag)
Torrents and Streams, for mixed ensemble and laptops hidden in the audience, James Alexandropoulos – McEwan, (Koninklijk Conservatorium, Den Haag)
The nominated pieces were performed during the lunchtime concert at the Gaudeamus Muziekweek, on September 7th 2018
Broadcast by The Concertzender Opname lunchconcert 7 september 2018
https://gaudeamus.nl/en/events/lunchtime-concert-2/
The jury of the TDMO award 2018: Claudia Rumondor (composer) and Vanessa Lann (composer), Fie Schouten (musician), Loes Visser (conductor) and Shane Burmania (concert programmer). Chair: David de Marez Oyens.